U.S. Reprimands Soviet Union for Providing Arab States with Arms

March 12, 1957

WASHINGTON (Mar. 11)

The United States today dispatched a note to the Soviet Union on the Middle East, rejecting a Soviet note of February 11.

The American note said the U.S. has “consistently sought to avoid an arms race between the Arab states and Israel. ” In its arms export policy, the note said, the United States always kept in mind “the need to encourage stability and foster progress toward lasting peace and security. ” Regret was expressed that “the Soviet Government, on the contrary, saw fit to effect massive shipments of arms into the area at a time when regional disputes there had become sharply exacerbated. “